Northwestern University Athletics
2001 Women's Cross Country Season in Review
11/28/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country & Track
Nov. 28, 2001
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Northwestern women's cross country season could be deemed a success on some levels. However, it was also a season with a big what-if. As in, what if Laura Evans (Christiansburg, Va./Christiansburg) and Emily Blakeslee (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) had been healthy?
Evans was an All-Big Ten and All-District performer as a junior in 2000. Blakeslee was a consistent scorer as a freshman in 2000, then ran for the U.S. Juniors in the World Cross Country Championships. Both were primed to again be important cogs in the Wildcat running machine.
Those plans were derailed by injury, however, depleting Northwestern's depth. As a result, the Wildcats were unable to make that next step in their renaissance and earn an NCAA Championship berth. Northwestern had some nice finishes early on, taking second at the Bradley Open and third at the Illinois Invitational. However, depth played a role in the championship races that ended the season, as NU placed sixth at the Big Ten meet and seventh at the NCAA Midwest Regional.
Individually, the constant was junior Rachel Evjen (Eau Claire, Wis./North), who once again led the Wildcats in every race she ran. It was an historic season for Evjen, as she became the first Northwestern woman ever to earn first team All-Big Ten honors in cross country, with a fifth-place finish at the conference championship meet. Two weeks later, she finished seventh overall at the NCAA Midwest Regional, but due to the intricacies of the selection system that was not enough to earn her a second straight trip to the NCAA National Championship meet. Earlier in the season, Evjen won individual titles in back-to-back events, the Bradley Open and the Illinois Invitational.
The most pleasant surprise was freshman Diana Hossfeld (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona Del Mar). A relatively unheralded recruit, Hossfeld set the tone for her season by finishing third overall in the UIC Home Opener. From there, she established herself as NU's No. 2 runner with Top-10 finishes at the Bradley Open and the Illinois Invitational. She later earned second team All-Big Ten with an 11th-place finish at the conference meet, and All-District at the NCAA Midwest Regional.
The absence of Evans and Blakeslee put more pressure on NU's second pack. Junior Karen Rogers (St. Louis, Mo./Kirkwood) was the Wildcats' third runner in six events, while junior Nicole Kuznia (Olivia, Minn./BOLD) was fourth in every race she ran and senior Sara Jurek (Tulsa, Okla./Cascia Hall) established herself as NU's fifth scorer. Another senior, Jennifer Anderson (Rockford, Ill./Auburn Academy), came back after struggling as a junior and competed for the Wildcats at the Big Ten Championships.
Sophomore Nora Colligan (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) was a regular performer with Northwestern's top group, while several other women competed for a spot in the Wildcats' top nine. Looking ahead to the 2002 season, leading candidates to join the first group include sophomore Nicole Kalogeropoulos (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Fremd) and freshman Kyna Forkins (Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard West).
